Russia: Don't Compete Through Currency Devaluations

Anton Siluanov, Russian finance minister, tells CNBC at the G20 meeting in Moscow that countries should not compete to devalue their currencies.

Russia fueled the G-20 currency war debate on Thursday, when the Russian finance minister criticized countries that are trying to stimulate their economies through currency devaluation.

"We believe countries should not be competing through their currency policies. They should be competing based on their economic activity," Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told CNBC at the G-20 meeting of major economic powers in Moscow.

Currency war fears have grown this year, spurred by aggressive monetary policy moves by Japan's new government, which have caused the value of the yen to plummet.

Siluanov agreed when asked by CNBC if Japan was deliberately devaluing its currency.

"You are absolutely right," he said.

"At the previous G-10 meeting, we were discussing the so-called currency war, and it is a unanimous opinion that such moves and operations are not admissible for waging this war."

The G-7 nations issued a statement on Tuesday that countries should not implement policies aimed at devaluing their currency. The yen initially weakened after the Japanese finance minister, Taro Aso, said the statement recognized Japan's reflationary policies were not done with this intention.

Russia's deputy finance minister, Alexei Moiseev, said on Wednesday that his country was "actively" moving away from currency manipulation.

"Last fall, the central bank officially declared that Russia was moving towards a flexible exchange rate, so we have a target of 2015 to commit to make no interventions in the exchange market," Moiseev told CNBC.